Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, September 22nd, 2025:
THE LONG ROAD TO REAL REPRESENTATION IN HOLLYWOOD
While the story of what is going on with Jimmy Kimmel has rightfully dominated the entertainment news scene for the past few days, it's also true that Hollywood is undergoing a retrenchment of its willingness to represent all voices in its TV programming.
For all of the edgy, often uncomfortable shows that have aired in recent years, there is a growing sense in the industry that "it just isn't the right time to tell this story." From trans characters being eliminated from shows during development to requests from executives along the lines of "Does that character *have* to be gay?," it's getting harder for many writers to tell the stories that resonate with their life experiences.
William Lucas Walker is a veteran television writer who worked on Roseanne, Frasier, Cybill and the first season of Will & Grace. His latest project is the comedy Dads Of DeWitt, which tells the story of two gay men who move to a small town deep in Trump country. ABC bought the script but passed on filming it and its currently being shopped around Hollywood.
On Thursday evening, September 25th, the LGBTQ Riders Committee of the Writers Guild is having a 12-scene evening for members, comprised of 5 to 6-minute scenes from queer writers.
I spoke last weekend with William for close to an hour about that event, his long career and what he hopes will happen with Dads Of DeWitt. The conversation was so long that I had to break it up into two parts, with part two posting late Monday evening.
Here is a short excerpt from that interview:
And as a gay man, there were very few shows that had any kind of gay representation, but Roseanne was one of them. My very first show was The Jackie Thomas Show, which was Tom Arnold's show.
It had a great ensemble cast: Martin Mull, Paul Feig, Michael Boatman...
Yep. We did an episode where he stumbles into a gay bar. And they, of course, wanted me to write it so they could get all their ugly gay jokes in, but with my name.
A gay guy wrote it. So it can't be offensive.
Exactly. That happened more than once, I'll tell you. But there was nothing I objected to in it. So I really caught that wave very early. But even then, there were some difficult times.
I was working on The Jackie Thomas Show as a staff writer and I had come right out of the Warner Brothers workshop. I was working with these guys who...several of them were from Roseanne, which was my favorite show at the time. And I didn't know what I was doing. I was listening a lot. And I wasn't out. There was no reason to come out on staff.
But then this writer on Roseanne did a stand-up gig on The Tonight Show. And Roseanne had a lot of stand-up writers as writers that she got a lot of her friends from the stand-up world she hired. And they all loved this guy. So the next moment, they were like, "Oh, my God, you killed last night. It was so amazing. Tell us, what was it like?" And he says, "Oh, God. You know that piano player, that Michael Feinstein guy? What a fag." And all these guys I was working with were just like doubled over in laughter.
And I just felt my stomach shrivel to the size of a raisin. I'm thinking "Oh, my God, these are the guys I'm working with. I thought they were great guys. And it was just a huge kick in the gut. And I realized I could either could quit or come out to my showrunner and say, "I don't know if I can keep working here." I called, I asked him if he'd talk to me. And I sit down and tell him what happened. And he says, "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it." And I don't know what he did or said. But nothing was ever said again in the room that was in the slightest bit homophobic.
But I really felt like, if this is the atmosphere I'm working in, I just, I can't, I just can't do that.
Well, talking to other people who have dealt with similar situations, that showrunner's attitude is not the usual approach. They're more likely to shrug it with "Oh, it's just comics. They're just joking."
No, you're right. His name was Brad Isaacs. He was a terrific writer. He went on, I think he wrote some Larry Sanders shows after that. He was a very compassionate guy and very sweet. And he could see, I guess he could see the pain in my face. I like these guys. I just didn't know this side of them. And this doesn't feel good to me at all. I wasn't being like a whistleblower. I just felt like, I don't know if I can stay.
That was a big moment for me. I think I knew one other guy who was gay, because I went to him for advice. He worked on Roseanne and he told me, "I don't ever talk about that. You don't ever talk about it. You'll lose your job."
Our conversation was so long that I had to break it up into two parts. You can read part one here and I'll post part two later Monday evening.
READER FEEDBACK
"Not everyone is impressed with my coverage of the Jimmy Kimmel story this week (and I have the paid cancellations to prove it). But I felt it was only fair to my critics to highlight some of their thoughts:
"Idk why you’re rhetorically rolling out a fainting couch over the idea you have a bipartisan audience.
But zooming out, all of these “gut check” stories are going to be potted histories without context.
I'd be most interested in a dive into trump’s plane comments as seen on cspan (plane) not as aggregated which allege a history of fcc actions in 70s/80s I can't organically evaluate"
--jgh
"You guys live in a weird fantasy land where this is the first entertainer cancelled.
Where were you when Obama had Roseanne cancelled?
When Kennedy and Johnson made up a fake non profit to make fake FCC complaints?
When Clinton talked about pulling licenses if Limbaugh was on the air?
None of these things should have happened, and if you had spoken up then we may not be where we are.
You in Hollywood helped create this, now you complain, and we normal people live in world worse off for it."
--ShoNuffHarlem
Editor's note: Well, first of all, the Dixie Chicks would like to weigh in on this discussion. Also, when Roseanne was canceled, the president was…..Donald Trump. And aside from that, she wasn't "cancelled" for being a conservative. She lost her job because she described an African-American advisor to Obama as a "Cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and someone from Planet of the Apes." And when ABC tried to give her the chance to make things better, she doubled down on the comments, publicly slammed the network and her co-stars. Other than that, totally Obama's fault.
"You suck! Not just a little bit. You suck like the big gasbag you are!"
Editor's note: Thanks for reading! May I interest you in a paid subscription?
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* I was curious to see if John Oliver would address the Jimmy Kimmel story on his show Sunday night and he ended up diving deep into the controversy with another brutal takedown of the actions of the FCC, the Trump Administration, conservative podcasters and station group owners NexStar and Sinclair. You can see the entire segment here.
* Someone used AI to create a 1960s version of 50 Cent’s Many Men and it is scary good. Very vintage feel and honestly, if you didn't know the song and someone played you this version, you'd think it was some unreleased soul track from back in the day.
* I have no way of knowing how many people have canceled Disney+ and Hulu in the past several days. But I have heard from multiple readers that Hulu has made it more difficult to cancel. Despite have a "cancel" button in the account management section, that button apparently has just been refreshing the page, but not allowing subscribers to cancel. If you have that problem, you can go to the Help Menu, and click through a link that is on one of the FAQ pages.
* In the capper to a very strange few days, this newsletter was mentioned in a piece that posted Sunday on FoxNews.com.
WHAT'S COMING TOMORROW
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2025:
* Blippi's Job Show (Netflix)
* Brilliant Minds Season Two Premiere (NBC)
* Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen (CBS)
* Into The Void: Life, Death & Heavy Metal Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Let's Make A Deal Season Seventeen Premiere (CBS)
* POV: The Bitter Pill (PBS)
* Seeking Sister Wife Season Six Premiere (TLC)
* The Price Is Right Season Fifty-Four Premiere (CBS)
* The Voice Season Twenty-Eight Premiere (NBC)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD:
* Alien: Earth Season One Finale (FX)
* Bodyguard Of Lies (Paramount+)
* Clemente (History)
* Crime Scene Zero Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy (Netflix)
* Doc Season Two Premiere (Fox)
* Hometown Rescue Season Premiere (Discovery)
* Hustlers Gamblers Crooks (Discovery)
* Murder In A Small Town Season Two Premiere (Fox)
* The Devil Is Busy (HBO)
* The Lowdown Series Premiere (FX)
SEE YOU EARLY TUESDAY MORNING!